Newcastle United Supporters Trust

Newcastle United Supporters Trust (NUST) was originally born out of a need for change at our football club. It seeks to benefit both the football club and its supporters by channelling the passion of Newcastle supporters into a forward-thinking organisation that is a legally constituted, democratic, not-for-profit Supporters Trust of Newcastle United.

A Supporters Trust is a democratic not-for-profit organisation, made up of supporters, committed to strengthening the voice of supporters in the decision making process at a club, and strengthening the links between the club and the community it serves.

When the Newcastle United Supporters Club (NUSC) was formed in September 2008 with a view to establishing an organised body to represent the interests of Newcastle United Supporters a small sub group explored the possibility of converting the status of NUSC to that of a Supporters Trust.

After initial guidance and assistance from Supporters Direct about the procedure involved in such transformation a motion was put to NUSC members regarding conversion to Trust status, the members of NUSC endorsed the proposal and application for Trust status was passed by a resounding majority.

No, your NUSC membership was transferred to the Newcastle United Supporters Trust upon the Trust receiving official recognition. NUSC members voted to convert to Trust status.

The Trust, like most others is looking forward to him transferring ownership and is looking positively to the future. We believe and hope that any new owners must learn from the lessons of his tenure beginning with supporter involvement/fan representation at the club. With that in mind, and having recently converted our status to that of a Supporters Trust we are concentrating our efforts on looking to the future and establishing ourselves as a bona fide organisation whom new owners can look upon as representative of the Newcastle United fans, who have largely been ignored by previous owners.

We agree that fan ownership is our ultimate aim although we accept that in the early stage of development of the Trust we need to prove ourselves to be a truly representative body that the new owners are able to work with on behalf of Newcastle United fans.

100,000 fans giving £1000 or 50,000 giving £2000 is just not feasible in our opinion based on discussions we have had since last year.

We had discussions in October 2008 with Mr Peter Lee from the Save Newcastle campaign, who claimed he had wealthy backers, nothing ever happened. Save Newcastle have their own website and had a reasonable amount of press but seem to have now disappeared, this in our view is because of the unrealistic option of 250,000 people giving £1000 (£250m was the price at time).

The Newcastle Fans United website which was similarly set up has now given up and is actively encouraging people to join the Trust. Quote from their website "We strongly encourage anyone who supported the Newcastle Fans United project to seriously consider joining and supporting the Newcastle United Supporters Trust."

The main aims of the Newcastle United Supporters Trust are:

• to strengthen the bonds and dialogue between the Club and the supporters.
• to encourage the Club to take proper account of the interests of its supporters and the community it serves in its decisions and to honour the contribution made by the community in the past to the life of the Club.
• ultimately, to promote the full, accountable democratic and constructive involvement of supporters in the running and direction of the Club, including the principle of supporter representation on the board of the Club.

The main difference concerns the way that a supporter's trust is set up. The Newcastle United Supporters Trust is democratic and not-for-profit. It clearly states that one of its main objectives is the securing of representation at the club and strengthening the links between the club and the community.

The NUST is supported by a legal and constitutional framework which means that the achievement of its objectives is possible. A Trust actively tries to influence its Club and seek representation by being a professional and credible body of supporters, with something to offer. It builds on the fundraising and social principles of supporters' clubs / associations, but has clear direction and objectives.

The Newcastle United SupportersTrust is run by a board, and the permanent positions within it are voted for by the Trust members.

There will never be less than 6 and not more than 12 members of the board. At least 5 of these members are required to be elected by the members of the Trust.

At least 1 member of the board will be co-opted by the board (as per rule 55).

The Newcastle United Supporters Trust wants to have the strongest team of skills, experience and knowledge available on the board to help drive the Trust forward.

Board members will normally serve for a period of 2 years.

No, all time given by Newcastle United SupportersTrust Board members is completely voluntarily. None of the Trust Board members are paid or rewarded for the time and effort they give to the Trust.

You can contact us via email at:     query@nust.org.uk

Or by post to:

Newcastle United Supporters Trust
PO Box 621
Newcastle Upon Tyne
NE5 9AD